What I gather is that you improved your appearance, and then you detected significantly better outcomes in social situations? In which situations was this change most apparent?
How strong did you find this “stat buff”? I have no doubt that buying some new t-shirts is a net good for me, and I’m essentially going in this general direction already because of the dating argument. However, after going from poor appearance to OK appearance, it is much less clear to me how far I should optimize. Should I stop wearing bike helmets? Should I aim for a lower body-fat percentage than what is purely healthy?
Your advice is likely directionally correct, and a nerd like me is unlikely to actually overshoot and care too much about appearances, but I’m still curious.
You are unlikely to overshoot as long as you avoid making your appearance a special interest or hobby.
Also, appearance benefits from marginal improvements, though I feel like there are some phase shifts. I think this is likely because you’re only as attractive as your least attractive attribute, though if you’re attractive (or high status) enough then what seems like a negative attribute can become a positive (think things like unique moles, crooked noses, one weird fashion choice you won’t give up, etc.).
As to how strong of a stat buff, I don’t know, maybe 20-30%? This is complicated to measure because in some cases it’s 100% and other times it’s 0%, like being able to date someone you otherwise wouldn’t be able to date but not being able to date everyone you might like to. But maybe 20-30% of interactions go the way you want instead of not because you garner more positive affect, but it’s not enough to overcome non-marginal blockers unless you achieve 99th percentile attractiveness.
How did you figure out that you were wrong?
What I gather is that you improved your appearance, and then you detected significantly better outcomes in social situations? In which situations was this change most apparent?
How strong did you find this “stat buff”? I have no doubt that buying some new t-shirts is a net good for me, and I’m essentially going in this general direction already because of the dating argument. However, after going from poor appearance to OK appearance, it is much less clear to me how far I should optimize. Should I stop wearing bike helmets? Should I aim for a lower body-fat percentage than what is purely healthy?
Your advice is likely directionally correct, and a nerd like me is unlikely to actually overshoot and care too much about appearances, but I’m still curious.
Gordon did write https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/kJoyRgDDPzMg4Fo3Z/nice-clothes-are-good-actually for more details.
I had not seen that post. It was very useful, thanks!
You are unlikely to overshoot as long as you avoid making your appearance a special interest or hobby.
Also, appearance benefits from marginal improvements, though I feel like there are some phase shifts. I think this is likely because you’re only as attractive as your least attractive attribute, though if you’re attractive (or high status) enough then what seems like a negative attribute can become a positive (think things like unique moles, crooked noses, one weird fashion choice you won’t give up, etc.).
As to how strong of a stat buff, I don’t know, maybe 20-30%? This is complicated to measure because in some cases it’s 100% and other times it’s 0%, like being able to date someone you otherwise wouldn’t be able to date but not being able to date everyone you might like to. But maybe 20-30% of interactions go the way you want instead of not because you garner more positive affect, but it’s not enough to overcome non-marginal blockers unless you achieve 99th percentile attractiveness.